Intellectual property and rights management professionals with experience spanning motion-picture literary representation, copyright recapture, contract analysis, and long-term IP stewardship. Practitioner-level experience in U.S. copyright law as applied to literary and motion picture intellectual property with a strong record of navigating complex chain-of-title issues, derivative works, and multi-party rights environments.
• Intellectual Property & Rights Administration • Copyright Termination & Recapture (with counsel) • Chain-of-Title & Contract Analysis • Licensing, Derivative Works & Sequel Rights • Estate Representation & IP Stewardship • Coordination with Counsel, Studios & Publishers. • Research
Lott W. Brantley III serves as the exclusive representative for the Literary Estate of George Clayton Johnson, the writer and creator behind “Ocean’s Eleven”, multiple and seminal “Twilight Zone” episodes, the first-aired episode of “Star Trek”, and the co-author of “Logan’s Run”. For 17 years he has managed the Estate’s intellectual property and worked directly with studios, publishers, producers, and legal teams on rights administration, development, and deal structuring.
He was directly involved in studio level negotiations for the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise after discovering that the original and valuable grant of film rights was eligible for copyright termination and recapture and initiated and drove that process on behalf of the Johnson heirs, working with attorneys Stephen Greenwald and Michael Steinmetz of GS2 Law in New York, and Jeff Silberman in Los Angeles. A rare accomplishment, an agreement with Warner Bros. was successfully reached in December, 2020. This work provided hands-on experience with studio film franchise negotiations at the highest level and U.S. copyright termination and recapture.
Before transitioning into literary-estate and IP management, Mr. Brantley worked for approximately two decades as an accomplished and professional actor. Member: SAG/AFTRA.
Our current work focuses on: • Literary-estate management • Film and television IP strategy, producing and publishing • Copyright termination and recapture • Rights and option structuring • Buyer outreach (studio, streaming, independent) • Pitch packaging and script consulting.
Publishing negotiations on behalf of the estate and other represented authors have included Audible (US), Random House (US), Knopf-Doubleday (US), Vintage Movie Press (US), Giunti Press (Italy), Éditions du Seuil (France), Editorial Hidra (Spain), Centipede Press (US) and others.
And I would add this: I send a very special note of thanks to the valuable advice and assistance of retired Los Angeles attorney Andrew C. Rigrod from in the early days, the first 10 years of representing George and his work. Without Andy, none of this would have been possible.
Thank you, Andy. Always.